Volume Two, The Demon Game: Chapter 60, Forced Valor

Yang Tonghua let out a roar and charged straight at the Guardian. A strange, fierce light ignited in his eyes, followed by a scorching, violent aura radiating from his body as his skin turned a deep, flushed red.

He drew his double-edged axe and swung it heavily at the Guardian. The Guardian casually swiped the back of his right hand against the axe, yet this time, it did not budge. The Guardian’s eyelids twitched slightly, and with a sudden tremor of his arm, the axe was sent flying from Yang Tonghua’s grip.

Yang Tonghua roared again and lunged to grapple the Guardian. The airborne axe traced an arc before slamming into the blue circle. Under the impact, the blue passage flickered, grew ethereal, and then vanished entirely, while the crystalline barrier sealing the group developed several cracks.

Ge Wendong and Wang Ge were the first to break free by activating their talents. Ge Wendong rushed to save the others, while Wang Ge drew his longbow. He aimed at the Guardian, but because Yang Tonghua was still pinning the Guardian from behind, he could not find a clear shot.

Just then, the Guardian sneered, raised both hands, and spread them wide. The members of the Windchaser Squad were instantly blasted away, slamming into the nearby walls.

Unlike the others, Wang Ge did not collapse to the ground. With lightning-fast reflexes, he flipped and landed on his feet. He quickly activated his talent skill; a hawk shrieked as it dove from the sky, flapping its wings before landing on Wang Ge’s bow and merging into it.

"Don't attack!" Ge Wendong shouted, hoisting Deng Yuqi onto his back and breaking into a run. "Don't you see? We can't win! Every time we attack, the Guardian only gets stronger! Retreat!"

Wang Ge gritted his teeth and lowered his bow. Yang Tonghua, his aura flickering unsteadily before fading back to his normal state, followed after the group.

The Windchaser Squad quickly applied speed talismans. Deng Yuqi, pushing her recovering mental energy to the limit, cast an acceleration buff on the team. They soon managed to put nearly ten meters of distance between themselves and the Guardian.

The Guardian turned slowly and flicked his left palm. A silver rectangle swept rapidly across the Windchaser Squad. Upon being struck by the frame, the group's speed plummeted.

"What is this? A debuff?" Ge Wendong shouted.

"My buffs and the speed talismans have all been stripped away," Deng Yuqi said, checking her wrist-mounted device and speaking quickly into the team channel.

"Stripped?" Ge Wendong’s expression shifted. "Use another one."

As they reached for more talismans, a wind laced with crystalline shards swept by. They instinctively tried to apply the charms, but they had no effect and did not disappear.

"What is this now?" Ge Wendong held a talisman up to his eyes; a layer of crystals encased it. The item description confirmed it: the talisman had been sealed.

"It can even seal talismans?" Wang Ge’s face turned ghastly pale.

"It's fine, we still have more," Ge Wendong said, pulling out another, but it, too, was encased in crystals. His face turned ashen as he pulled out the rest of his stash, only to find them all sealed.

The others checked their own talismans with the same result: every talisman that couldn't be stored in their dimensional inventory was now sealed.

Ge Wendong swore under his breath. "Forget them, just run! Deng Yuqi, is the Guardian following us?"

Deng Yuqi looked back. "No."

The words had barely left her lips when an arched crystal wall erupted from the ground. Only then did the Guardian walk toward them with a cold smirk.

"Wang Ge, Hua Yanghui, distract the Guardian. Yang Tonghua, help me break the wall," Ge Wendong ordered. Wang Ge and Hua Yanghui turned around; Wang Ge drew his bow again, while Hua Yanghui revealed the gauntlets he used to fire projectiles.

A white tiger phantom surged into Ge Wendong, and he let out a low growl as his arm muscles bulged. "Now!" At his command, he and Yang Tonghua struck. The wall trembled, spiderweb cracks spreading across it.

"Again!" Ge Wendong yelled. Simultaneously, Wang Ge and Hua Yanghui unleashed their attacks. Wang Ge’s arrow flew first, but as it came within two meters of the Guardian, it seemed caught in a transparent ripple. Its speed slowed, visibly warping, before it froze in mid-air. The projectile that followed it suffered the same fate.

The Guardian walked calmly between the suspended arrow and the projectile. Without any visible effort, the objects turned transparent and vanished into thin air.

Hua Yanghui’s expression changed, and he pulled out a grenade the size of a melon. Wang Ge drew his bow once more, this time wrapping his arrow in a cyan current. He released it, and the arrow whistled sharply toward the Guardian.

It slowed as it neared the Guardian and froze, but Wang Ge noticed something different: the wind element swirling around the arrow continued to rotate, albeit much slower than before.

Hua Yanghui timed his strike and hurled the grenade. It exploded just as it was about to vanish, the blast engulfing the Guardian’s upper body.

Hua Yanghui smiled, but a second later, the space around the Guardian froze. The fire and shrapnel reversed their trajectory, and in the blink of an eye, everything returned to normal. The Guardian continued his unhurried approach with that same cold smirk; his clothes were pristine, without a speck of dust.

"This!" Hua Yanghui stared in shock. "This... this is just meant to kill us."

"Don't say that." The strange markings around Wang Ge’s eyes faded rapidly as he drew his bow again. "It's not as bad as we thought. I just noticed that the Guardian's spacetime ability changes depending on the target. It can instantly alter things native to this world, but items brought from the city are slower to process, which is why our arrows and projectiles had that delay before disappearing."

Wang Ge fired several more wind-infused arrows, continuing rapidly, "And energy-based attacks take the longest for him to erase."

Indeed, while the arrows were frozen, the energy within them was still flowing, albeit sluggishly. Even after the Guardian walked past them, they did not vanish.

"From what I can see, this ability isn't just about the object; it's about distance. Clearly, the closer something is to the Guardian, the greater the effect."

"Ugh," Hua Yanghui complained. "What's the point of knowing that? At the end of the day, our attacks still disappear."

Before Wang Ge could explain, Yang Tonghua bellowed, "Damn it, we finally broke through!"

Ge Wendong pulled Yang Tonghua along. "Don't just stand there, move!"

As Yang Tonghua squeezed through the crystal wall, he said, "Captain, if Wang Ge is right, we should try again. If our attacks are strong enough, we can definitely hit him."

"Yang Tonghua!" Ge Wendong roared, yanking on his clothes. "You’re already showing signs of awakening your talent. Once you do, you’ll surpass half the trainees here. If we just survive this last hour, our squad's strength will rise to a new level. Why are we throwing ourselves at this damn Guardian? We’ve tried twice—have we gained anything? Look at Deng Yuqi—think about it, is this risk worth it?"

Yang Tonghua rubbed his bald head. "Fine, I'll listen to the captain."

Wang Ge fired one last arrow and scrambled through, and Ge Wendong gestured for them to move.

Just then, a cracking sound echoed. Ge Wendong glanced back to see the crystal wall and the ground shattering rapidly. Before he could react, a surge of overwhelming energy shattered the wall, tore up the ground, and slammed into the Windchaser Squad. The five of them activated their gear and defensive measures, but they were still sent tumbling for over ten meters before coming to a stop.

Lying on the ground, Ge Wendong looked back through the gap in the wall. The Guardian still wore that calm, cold smirk, slowly lowering his left hand. Seeing the collapsed houses and pulverized concrete along the path, it was hard to believe such power was merely a casual strike.

Ge Wendong lay there as the white tiger phantom faded from his body. The Guardian’s single strike had knocked him right out of his talent-activated state.

The Guardian stopped ten meters away, standing as if he had just stepped through the crystal gate. But this time was different. Ge Wendong had finally felt, with terrifying clarity, the chasm between them.

He looked up at the Guardian, a sense of powerlessness suffocating him. His body felt sluggish, and his hands and feet began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Damn it, he's not planning on letting us go," Yang Tonghua said, slamming a fist into the ground and standing up with his axe.

"Yang Tonghua!" Ge Wendong’s voice trembled.

"Captain, even the ruthless fear the desperate. The Guardian clearly wants our heads; if we keep playing it safe, we're dead anyway," Yang Tonghua roared and charged.

"He's right, Captain! Let's fight. We still have a chance," Wang Ge said earnestly to Ge Wendong before leaping into action.

"A chance?" The Guardian finally spoke again. His lips curled into a hideous, cruel smile. "Before me, you have only death or the luck of a coward, yet you speak of chances. Very well—I shall let you experience true despair."